Pushing a 56K modem to its limits

I know you can only make something do or go as far or as fast as it can. I cant afford to run broadband or higher. Anyway im fed up of my Conexant V90 56K Modem. It is slow and i feel it isnt reaching its full potential (if it has any!). Anyway can anyway honestly say if it can be optimized for a higher performance. There are tools such as Ashampoo! Win optimizer that allow you to do this (but guess what, it doesnt work.).

IS IT POSSIBLE TO MAKE IT FASTER, MORE RELIABLE OR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A SLUG IN A FORMULA 1 RACE?

There is NO way of increasing your connection speed to a noticeable degree. You could try asking BT to check the gain on your line but that is all. The so-called speed up programmes are as much use a snow at harvest.

When I was experimenting in a similar way a couple of years ago I did get one driver to make a very very noticable differnce in download speed. However, with this one I was unable to get the speaker to mute after connection. It had to go!

Yeah, thanks. Put a name into a app and you think hey presto! unfortunately it doesnt work like that. Could buying a new 56K modem make a difference (its a bout 4 year old). Im trying to find any cheap possibilities to do something about this.

Otherwise what is the CHEAPEST broadband service (a month). Aol is far to dear (£28 or something, so is BT).

First and foremost, my advice is that you should always have the most currentdrivers for your modem. These are most often available free of charge fromyour modem's manufacturer's web site. If you don't know the correct websitefor your modem manufacturer, check your documentation that came with yourmodem.

If you cannot get your modem to initialize, try using AT&F1 or ATZ as yourinitialization strings. AT&F1 usually will return a modem to factory settings.ATZ should reset your modem to default settings.============

============No Dial Tone and Modem Speaker Volume

If you cannot get a dial tone, be sure that your modem is properly plugged inand connected to your system as well as the telephone jack.If applicable, make sure that your modem's speaker is turned up enough so thatyou can hear dial tones, busy signals, and handshakes.(Handshakes are the noises the modem usually makes as it is connecting withanother modem). This will help you determine whether or not your modem is ableto obtain a dial tone and even dial out. If it is able to get a dial tone anddial out, but cannot connect, it may be a problem with the modem you aretrying to call. In Windows 95/98, you can change your modem speaker volume inthe Control Panel, Modems. Select your modem, and click on "Properties" toraise or lower your modem's speaker volume. If you still cannot connect to thenumber, try using a different local access number.

Try not to use a long telephone cord, as longer cables tend to have somesignal degradation, which means slower connections and file transfers.============

============How To Identify Your Modem

Lots of people have asked how they can tell who made their no-name modem.Sometimes it's not important to know the exact manufacturer. The most commoncommands between modems are often the same. If you are using Windows 3.x, youprobably don't need any specific modem driver. Lots of modems use a commonchipset (such as Rockwell) on a board. Most of the time, you can find thechipset name printed on the largest chip on the modem, and sometimes you mayfind it by entering some of the AT "ID" commands (ATI1, ATI2, ATI3, etc.) inthe screen of a communications program such as the Terminal and/orHyperTerminal programs. Terminal comes standard with Windows 3.x, andHyperTerminal is included with Win95/98.The ATI commands usually run up through 10 or 12, and you can learn a lot fromthem, such as the values in the s-registers, and sometimes even a list ofmodem commands. One of the ATI commands will usualy return some modem ID orchipset ID (Rockwell chipset ID's usually start with an "R").If you know the chipset name, you can probably find drivers that you candownload on the manufacturer's web site.

To send AT commands to your modem(s), run the HyperTerminal program(HyperTrm.exe) which is usually found at Start, Programs, Accessories,HyperTerminal. In the "Connection Description" dialog box, enter the name "ATCOMMANDS", choose any icon it offers, and click OK. On the "Connect Screen",do not enter a phone number, but rather click the down arrow on the "ConnectUsing" line and pick "Direct to Com#" (replace "Com#" with the communicationport your modem is on). Save this session. From now on, just double click the"AT COMMANDS" icon to open a terminal screen within which you can communicatedirectly with your modem by AT commands.

If you have a WinModem and cannot get it function in DOS or DOS Mode, it isdue to the fact that WinModems will only function under Windows, and most donot use a Rockwell chipset. These modems will only function under Windows3.x/Win95/98, although I have recieved information that suggests they mightwork under Windows NT as well, however that is currently beyond the scope ofthis file. If you cannot get your WinModem to function, I suggest checkingyour manufacturer's website and downloading the most current drivers for it.You may be able to access the Internet by using a friend, family, orco-worker's computer in order to obtain the drivers if you cannot connect tothe Internet with your WinModem. You can then copy the drivers onto a floppydisk and use them in your own computer.

If someone's modem is not connecting at its full potential the phone they havecoming out of their machine may be effecting it. Most modems have a jack for"LINE" and "PHONE" the one labeled "LINE" being incoming and the one labled"PHONE" being outgoing. If there is a telephone or caller ID box connected tothe "PHONE" (outgoing) jack, it may be affecting your Internet/Fax/BBSconnections. For Ray, it would only connect at 31200 while the telephone wasplugged into the "PHONE" (outgoing) jack, but when he unplugged the telephonefrom the "PHONE" (outgoing) jack he was connecting at 33600 every time.Thank you very much Ray and George for this tip.

Some people have found that their Internet file transfers are quite slow,often between 900-1,800 characters per second, even on a 56k modem. It mightvery possibly be a result of a Windows 95/98 Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)problem. Look at the "Bytes received/sec." in System Monitor (SYSMON) andcompare it to the characters per second reported by your web browser. Thesetwo numbers should be within 10%-12%; so if your "Bytes received/sec." is3,300, your characters per second should be around 3,000. If the charactersper second are 900-1,800, you are getting a lot of unneeded retransmissionsthat are quite possibly due to the Windows 95/98 MTU problem.Microsoft has not released a fix for this yet, but if you download and run:"click here" (no quotes) and change yourMTU value to 576 (the default is 1500), it will correct the MTU "bug" inWindows 95 versions 4.00.950 (retail), 4.00.950a (OSR1) and 4.00.950 B (OSR2),however, I have been unable to get TCPIPCFG.EXE to work when MicrosoftInternet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 for Win95, or Windows 98 (with IE 4.01 SP1)were installed on the system.

Update: [3/20/1998] A concerned reader ([email protected]) writes:I just read your modem tips file and you should clarify the MaxMTU fix. Thesetting 576 doesn't work for all ISP's it can range anywhere from 512 all theway to 1500.... 1500 is where my ISP's setting is set and where I get the bestperformance. I also noticed that just using MTUspeed to add the 1500 settingmade a difference even though it is the Win95/98 default. I also noticed moreof an improvement by installing Microsoft's Unimodem update (a hugedifference) then rebooting, uninstalling my modem (rebooting), thenreinstalling my modem drivers I jumped from 2.1 k/sec to over 3.0 k/sec.

Unless you use ultra-high-speed serial boards or special buffers, an externalserially connected ISDN modem will always result in slower performance than aninternal ISDN modem. This is because the 16550 UART maximum is 115.2Kbps, notthe 128Kbps a dual-channel ISDN connection is capable of reaching. If you wantto get every drop of performance out of your ISDN modem, use an internal one.

Any modem user has probably received an important transmission with charactersmissing. There is no way to find and retrieve the lost characters, but you canincrease your odds of receiving data intact by adding a line or two to yourSYSTEM.INI file. Before starting, it's important to understand how Windowshandles incoming data transmissions. Your modem sends the data it receives toWindows' COMM driver. This stores the received data in a memory buffer untilyour communications program retrieves it. Unfortunately displaying and storingall the received data keeps your communications program working overtime. As aresult, it can't always retrieve data from the COMM driver as often as itneeds to.By default, Windows sets aside just enough buffer space to store 128 incomingcharacters. Unfortunately, once a modem has been connected, data flowscontinuously. Your computer can temporarily stop the flow of data, but doingthat takes time. Meanwhile, data continues to arrive and must be stored in theCOMM driver buffer. If your communication link is slow, or your communicationprogram is fast, a 128-character buffer might suffice. But with a fast modemor a slow program, it's possible for more than 128 characters to arrive beforeyour program can process them. In that case, the COMM driver has no place tostore the 129th character and those that come after it.Luckily, you can expand Windows' COMM buffers. By adding a line to the[386enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file, you can create a buffer as large as10,000 characters. Actually since the COMM driver maintains a buffer for eachof your PC's COM ports, you can add up to four lines, each controlling thesize of a particular port's buffer. Each line should resemble this:COMxBuffer=numReplace the x with a number between 1 and 4 to indicate the desired COM port,and substitute num with a number from 128 to 10,000 to set the buffer size.You have to exit and restart Windows for the change to take effect. Use a texteditor when editing SYSTEM.INI.As for how big should your COMM buffer be, if characters are being droppedfrom incoming data transmissions, create a new buffer of at least 2,048(2KB) characters. If problems persist, increase the size of the buffer to4,096 (4KB) or even 8,192 (8KB).

Often, Win95/98 systems arrive with the COM ports set for 9,600bps, but ifyou're using a 14.4Kbps or faster modem, increase that.Open the Control Panel's System applet and click on the Device Manager tab.Expand the Ports entry, double-click on each serial COM port and follow thesesteps. Click on the Port Settings tab. Make sure your Bits Per Second entriesread 115,200 or higher (or at least 57,600), and the Flow Control is set toHardware. Next, click on the Advanced button and then select the "Use FIFObuffers [requires 16550 compatible UART]" option.

You can experiment with the Receive and Transmit Buffer options in modemproperties in Win95/98, but I suggest you just configure both to the highestsetting and bring them down if communication problems arise.

If Windows 95/98 didn't recognize and install your modem correctly, it may notbe using the right AT initialization string for a dial-up connection whichcould hamper performance. To check this setting, open the Modems applet in theControl Panel. The modem brand and type should match the one installed on yoursystem. If it doesn't match, highlight it and click on the Remove button inthe Modems Control Panel; then click on the Add button and follow the wizardto install the correct one.

For Win95/98, in the Modems Control Panel, click on the Properties button.Under the General tab, make sure the "Maximum Speed" is configured to 115,200or higher (or at least 57,600). Open the Connection tab, click on the Advancedbutton and check the User Error Control, Compress Data and Use Flow Control(Hardware) options.

You can sometimes get slightly better results using a hardware modem. Internal or external models are available, but make absolutely certain that you are buying a hardware modem and not an in-between software modem in a pretty box (some external modems can trick you like this).

As Simsy and GANDALF <|:-)> point out though, about the only possible increase in speed you are likely to see depends on having the most current drivers installed and the overall quality of your telephone line. Asking BT to check or increase the gain may help but if you mention it is for data transfer via modem they may not even entertain you since they are obliged to supply a working telephone line and not a clean modem line.

Also keep in mind that 56k is the maximum speed that a 56k modem can transfer data. Most 56k users find that they will connect at around 44 to 46k (ish) and if you ever start a file download it can be interesting and also very frustrating to watch the wild variations in data transfer speed.

The speed at which you connect is nothing more than that: a measurement of the data transfer at point and time of connecting. Almost the instant you have connected the actual rate of transfer starts going up and down like a YoYo.

Short of going over to broadband there is little you can do. You certainly won't ever realise a 56k connection and maintain that sort of transfer speed while surfing, downloading or whatever.

It's worth noting that many of the so-called internet speed up programs can actually slow you down. Most of them work by scanning the links on the page you are currently viewing and they try to 'best guess' which link you will click next by pre-loading that page. If your current page has many links, this means your modem is smoking along trying to cache that many pages on the off-chance you may select one of those links. It's kind of like an Internet history cache in reverse, if that makes sense. The point is though, that instead of requesting one page when you click a link then you sit and wait for it to load, lots of pages that you will never even look at are being downloaded in the background so that if you do click a link leading to one of them, it opens up quicker. Nightmare...